The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Video and/or audio calls and conferences are becoming both more common, and larger in size, every day. Originally, video and/or audio calls and conferences were limited to direct connections between users—a first user called a second user, enabling the users to see and hear each other during the call. As methods improved, conferences of five, ten, or more users all with streaming video and audio became more common. Simply sending all video and/or audio data from each participant to every other participant in a conference is not feasible, due to the limitations on bandwidth and processing power of most client devices.
Thus, solutions to large video and audio conferences were implemented using servers. The solutions fall into two general camps: multipoint control units (MCU) and selective forwarding units (SFU). MCUs receive and process audio and video data from clients, and typically mix the audio and video to create a single composite video. The composite video is then streamed to the clients in a single “mix.” While this solution enables relatively simple client software, the processing power needed for the MCU is very demanding, and the resulting presentation at the client/participant is generally inflexible. SFUs, in contrast, are more similar to packet data routers, as SFUs forward packets without media processing. Improved methods that enable more effective and/or efficient video and/or audio conferences, without requiring large amounts of computing power, are needed.